Alan Caruba's blog is a daily look at events, personalities, and issues from an independent point of view. Copyright, Alan Caruba, 2015. With attribution, posts may be shared. A permission request is welcome. Email acaruba@aol.com.

Friday, January 15, 2010

War & Peace at the Car Wash

By Alan Caruba

I was waiting for the crew at my local car wash to finish drying my car when a young man approached and asked where he could get the US Army decal that I display on the rear window. “The Army gives them to people who have served, veterans, and I assume to active duty members as well,” I told him.

“You were in the Army?” he asked. Oh yes, a very long time ago before you were born, I replied, noticing a distinct accent. He was joined by another young man. “Did you fight in the Middle East?” No, I said, but there has never been an absence of wars for America. We have never been free to ignore the rest of the world even if we wanted to.

In a similar fashion, as much as Israel may yearn for peace, they have never been permitted to function as a normal nation. From the hour that Israeli sovereignty was proclaimed, the nation was attacked by its “neighbors” and has, for all intents and purposes, been on a war footing ever since.

The two young men talking with me said they were Palestinians. Both came to America to find peace.

I think that tells you everything you need to know about the reality of Israeli-Palestinian relations—--if one can call the one-sided determination of the Palestinian leadership to “drive the Israelis into the sea.” Or the Iranian pledge to “wipe Israel off the map.” Or the Hezbollah forces in Lebanon being re-armed by the Iranians for whom they are a proxy army against Israel.

In the course of our chat, they said they were both from Gaza and I was reminded that the Israelis, in their futile quest for peace, had forced out their own people from the Gaza strip and turned the area over to Fatah, also known as the Palestinian Liberation Authority.

What they got in return was an endless cascade of rockets from Gaza, not just for a few weeks, but for months and years. Meanwhile, in Gaza, Hamas forced Fatah to retreat to the West Bank where they could have the protection of the Israelis who continue to desperately look for anyone with whom to negotiate a real peace.

In January of last year, the Israelis initiated Operation Cast lead in which their military targeted the sources of the Gaza rockets and looked for Hamas leaders who cravenly hid in the midst the population. The rocketing has largely stopped since then, though ugly individual attacks on Israelis have continued.

The Israeli solution has been to build a very high wall between them and the Palestinians and to maintain tight control over who passes through it. To do otherwise would be to subject their people to suicide bombers and other killers.

“Would you accept peace with Israel?” I asked. I was greeted with broad smiles. Yes, Palestinians want peace I was told, but “Hamas will not permit it.”

So, there you are. It has nothing to do with Washington’s foreign policy with regard to Israel and it has everything to do with the bad intentions of those who continue to use the Palestinian people as pawns of resistance to any Western presence in what they regard as their sacred lands.

The Islamic jihad knows no boundaries, killing Jews, Christians, Hindus and even Muslims with abandon. It took President Obama a year to say out loud that the U.S. is at war with al Qaeda. It took three days to say anything about the Christmas bomber.

Israel was sacred to the Jews for two thousand years before there ever was an Islamic religion. It was sacred to Christians for a thousand years before Islam existed. Jerusalem is never mentioned even once in the Koran, but, for reasons known only to Israel’s “neighbors”, they cannot find any reason to make peace with them.

The two young Palestinians were very happy to be living and working in America. They treated me with the greatest of respect and with good will. That’s the way it should be.

Editor’s note: The photo that accompanies this post is of a young Israeli girl attending the wedding of a friend. Note the automatic rifle slung over her shoulder. Israelis, particularly members of their defense force, never go anywhere without them. Too bad that wasn't the case at Fort Hood.

9 comments:

A sad state of affairs. It only takes a small number of little minded men to foment distruct and ill will. How many men, women and children have died in the name of God in the history of mankind? And we allow this crap to continue. That is a real crime. Whilst we are messing around in Afghanistan and furthering the heroin trade, Yemen and Saudi Arabia are pumping out uneducated, hating lunatic terrorists. Sad indeed.

As sources of Islamic terrorists, you left out Pakistan, Syria, Chechnya,Lebanon, Palestine,the Phillippines, Indonesia, Great Britain, and the U.S.,to name just a few places killing for Allah is quite popular.

Not until Muslims address the enemy within their midst will the world be free of this menace.

I have said many times, Islam *may be* the Religion of Peace, but until Muslims are willing to stand up the radicals in their midst, they will continue to ALL be looked at as The Religion of Death and Persecution!

You're right on the Fort Hood comment. Our soldiers should always be armed on their bases. Also, why didn't this government deal with a Muslim who clearly stated support for suicide attacks on American soldiers by Muslims in the military?? This government not only took the guns away from our soldiers - but willfully placed among them a man who clearly indicated his support for killing them - broadly publishing and strongly giving clear clues he was a danger and a threat as a Muslim supporter of suicide attacks on our soldiers.

Our government is systematically seeking to destroy the American people by the very immigrants you saw - who should not be here. Other Muslims from dangerous and extremist places. We keep inviting Muslims here - we keep failing to deal with Muslim threats and organizing here - and then fight senseless foreign wars that are not winnable.

Our government spins propaganda with their mouths. But, as we watch their feet - we learn their true intentions are to destabilize the USA and destroy us from within through their immigration, etc. policies. Our government has declared jihad against Americans - and is using schemes of doublespeak to pretend differently. Never mind what the government says. Watch their feet, I say. The government's feet tell the story. Even a child is known by his actions. So, too, is the intent of our government known. They couldn't care less about "keeping us safe". They're creating Islamic extremism by foreign wars - and then mass immigrating Muslims from extremist areas. The government's feet tell the truth - but their lips and propaganda excuses for foreign wars are nothing but lies.

Hi Alan,I hope that you are feeling better.Your story this AM reminded me of an incident which occurred on our first trip to Israel. The fact that the IDF requires their troops to carry their weapons with them at all times allowed a young trooper to murder someone in a rage one early evening. The event was witnessed by many and he was arrested immediately. His trial took place several days later and found guilty, he was executed in lees than a month.We can learn several things from this brief story. First, justice, quickly applied, brings peace and safety. The streets of large cities in Israel are very safe after dark. There is little violent crime. Secondly, I wish that we as a nation would bring back some sort of "draft". Universal conscription would allow our young citizens a real sense of "paying their dues" to the greatest nation on earth. There would be discipline instilled in them as well, something woefully missing in the under 25 bunch.

About Me

I am and have been for a long time a writer by profession. I have several books to my credit and my daily column, "Warning Signs", is disseminated on many Internet news and opinion websites, as well as blogs. In addition, I am a longtime book reviewer and have a blog offering a monthly report on new fiction and non-fiction.